Fwd: [Chiapas09] World Price of Coffee

[Brian Case]

From: Peter Buck <pb...@equalexchange.coop>

Date: January 14, 2011 2:29:15 PM EST

To: chia...@googlegroups.com

Cc: Brian Case <bc...@c-ranch.com>, jh...@aol.com

Subject: RE: [Chiapas09] World Price of Coffee

Brian or John: If you don't see this on Chiapas09, can you forward it? I
had trouble sending something to that address yesterday, even though I'm
receiving the mail.

What's happened in Costa Rica has happened elsewhere, too.

All commodity prices have skyrocketed in the last two years. In coffee
this is partly due to weather reducing supply; and increased demand,
partly because of speculation.

The world market price for standard grade green coffee rose from $1.40 a
pound a couple of years ago to $2.40 now.

You will probably remember from our visit to Chavaheval that commercial
buyers were offering farmers the same or a little more per pound as CIRSA
was able to offer. At that point the farmers were saying they would stay
with CIRSA because CIRSA had stayed with them when commercial prices were
low.

Last year, Chiapas had a lot of rain right when the coffee was flowering,
which reduced the harvest. So when commercial buyers drive into the
village and offer 20% more than CIRSA can offer, it's hard for the farmers
to resist. We're paying, to CIRSA and others, around $3.00 a pound for
coffee and are having trouble finding enough. Farmers are getting higher
prices, but on smaller harvests, and it leaves CIRSA without coffee to
sell. In the short term, it's good for any farmer with coffee to sell. The
other problem for CIRSA is that everyone is farming tiny plots and their
trees are getting older and less productive. I don't know what they can do
about not having enough land, but they do need to replace their old trees,
for which they'll need credit.

Ultimately--like Old Man Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life"--the big boy
ends up buying when everyone else is selling. In this case, it's AMSA
(Agroindustrias Unidas de Mexico, SA), the multinational that buys up 80%
of Chiapas' coffee on behalf of big roasters in the U.S. and Europe who
end up being the only buyer.

So stick with Bailey Brothers Savings and Loan and Equal Exchange.

-----Original Message-----
From: chia...@googlegroups.com [mailto:chia...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Brian Case
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 11:34 AM
To: chia...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [Chiapas09] World Price of Coffee

Maybe Peter knows...

Hey Peter, do you know what this means for the coffee farmers in
Chiapas?



---- Original Message ----
From: Jh...@aol.com
To: chia...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [Chiapas09] World Price of Coffee
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:22:53 -0500 (EST)

Greetings, friends from Chiapas as we near the two-year mark  of our

trip

to San Cristobal de las Casas!

In today's online edition of the Tico Times, the  English weekly out

of San

Jose, Costa Rica, there is an interesting story about  this year's

coffee

crop.  The articles notes that the New York Stock  Exchange projects

coffee

prices for March at $2.35 per pound, an 88 percent  increase from the

$1.25

per pound in March 2010 -- the highest price the cash  crop has seen

since

1997.  I wonder what this means for the coffee farmers  in Chiapas?

To read the entire article, go to _www.ticotimes.net_

(http://www.ticotimes.net)  .

Peace,  John and Han

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To post a note to this group, press "return" or send email to
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[Rita Danks]

Thanks for posting this info.  It will help me when I speak with people at church as well as with the customers at the retail level!

Rita